BJP leader LK Advani backs IAC activist who tweeted against Chdambaram's son

NEW DELHI: BJP leader LK Advani today came out in support of S Ravi, an IAC activist who had tweeted against Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son, and said he should not have been arrested till a court had found him guilty.

On his latest blog posting, Advani has dwelt on the Emergency (1975-77) and its excesses. He claimed that a film-maker had told him the subject has been neglected by film industry as there is "widespread apprehension that those in authority would not tolerate a fair and honest projection of what actually happened".

Drawing a parallel with the Emergency days and the incident involving Chidambaram's son Karthi, Advani said, "A small event of last week fully justifies the film industry's fears." He recalled the incident where Ravi had tweeted that Karthi has amassed more wealth than Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra.

Ravi, a 46-year old small scale Puducherry industrialist who is associated with Arvind Kejriwal's India Against Corruption, had put this tweet on October 19. He was summoned by the police and arrested.

The BJP leader quoted former Madras High Court judge David Annoussamy who reportedly said that by the yardstick applied in Ravi's case by the police, many tweeters would have to be arrested.

"If any person feels aggrieved by a tweet, he can certainly file a defamation case against the person who has tweeted. Only if a court finds him guilty can he be arrested!" Advani said.